JOHN KEEFER

Art is essentially a spiritual pursuit.  You put your own ego in the service of the world spirit.  The spirit of the time you live in.

I told myself, what ever you think it is people want, do the opposite. Whatever you do as an artist, do it too much, make art thats too big, too personal, too violent, too sexual, too bereaved…  just too much, always.

I never try to finish a painting.  I never try to make a good painting.   It’s ok to paint more.  It’s ok to go deeper.  It’s better to try to make a bad painting than to try to make a good painting.   A painting can almost always be sufficiently bad, but nothing can ever really be good enough to express how beautiful, sad, horrifying, funny, sweet, hopeless…  it all is.  You can only hope to get close to that by going around the back.